M. Tullius Cicero, Pro S. Roscio Amerino, ed. Albert Curtis Clark, 33

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[33] 12 hominem longe audacissimum nuper habuimus in civitate C. Fimbriam et, quod inter omnis constat, nisi inter eos qui ipsi quoque insaniunt insanissimum. is cum curasset in funere C. G aii Mari ut Q. Scaevola volneraretur, vir sanctissimus atque ornatissimus nostrae civitatis, de cuius laude neque hic locus est ut multa dicantur neque plura tamen dici possunt quam populus Romanus memoria retinet, diem Scaevolae dixit, postea quam comperit eum posse vivere. cum ab eo quaereretur quid tandem accusaturus esset eum quem pro dignitate ne laudare quidem quisquam satis commode posset, aiunt hominem, ut erat furiosus, respondisse: quod non totum telum corpore recepisset. quo populus Romanus nihil vidit indignius nisi eiusdem viri mortem, quae tantum potuit ut omnis occisus¹ perdiderit et adflixerit; quos quia servare per compositionem² volebat, ipse ab eis interemptus est.

Pro S. Roscio Amerino. M. Tullius Cicero. ed. Albert Curtis Clark. Oxford. 1908.

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Current edition Perseus

Pro Sex. Roscio Amerino (Latin) (Cicero. M. Tulli Ciceronis Orationes, Volume 1. Clark, Albert Curtis, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908.)

Translations (1)

For Sextus Roscius of Ameria Perseus (Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 1. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Bell, 1903.) — 33 focus

[33] We lately had a most audacious man in this city, Caius Fimbria, a man, as is well known among all except among those who are mad themselves, utterly insane. He, when at the funeral of Caius Marius, had contrived that Quintus Scaevola, the most venerable and accomplished man in our city, should be wounded;—(a man in whose praise there is neither room to say much here, nor indeed is it possible to say more than the Roman people preserves in its recollection)—he, I say, brought an accusation against Scaevola, when he found that he might possibly live. When the question was asked him, what he was going to accuse that man of, whom no one could praise in a manner sufficiently suitable to his worth, they say that the man, like a madman as he was, answered, for not having received the whole weapon in his body. A more lamentable thing was never seen by the Roman people, unless it were the death of that same man, which was so important that it crushed and broke the hearts of all his fellow-citizens; for endeavouring to save whom by an arrangement, he was destroyed by them. ¹

Notes on the current edition

Pro S. Roscio Amerino

1. occisus ς: civis suos A πφ: civis σχψ

2. servare per compositionem ed. R: servare per conservare posicionem σχ: servare per cos. repositionem A πφ: conservare per positionem σχ2: conservare per compositionem ψ

Commentary

Notes on Pro S. Roscio Amerino (Select Orations of Cicero (Allen and Greenough's Edition). Greenough, James Bradstreet; Kittredge, George Lyman, editors. Boston, London: Ginn & Company, 1897.) focus

certo scio , I feel sure: § 322 , c (151, c).

neque enim : negative of et enim, introducing a point obvious or indisputable, for, you see, it is not surprising (cf. p. 4, l. 16 , above) ; § 324 , h (1 56, d) ; cf. H.-B. 311,6 and b.

mirum [ est] is the apodosis and

si . . . animadvertat ( p. 6, l. 4 ) is the protasis.

mirum [ est] is the main clause of the whole period ; the long parenthesis (lines 29-4) consists of a string of causal clauses with cum (which may be translated either when or since).

praeparet , must provide for .

pacis . . . rationem , i.e. the ordering of the new constitution.

si aliquid (more emphatic than

si quid )

non animadvertat , if there is something he does not notice protasis with

mirum [ est], above ; § 572 , b, N. (333, b, R.) ; G. 542, N.1.

ut . . . moliantur (clause of purpose), that as soon as he turns away his eyes they may get up something of this sort.

despexerit , perf. subj.: § 593 (342); B. 324, 1; G. 663, 1; H. 652 (529, ii); H.-B. 539; for fut. perf., § 484 , c (286, end) ; B. 269, I, b; G. 514; H. 541, 2 (496, ii); H.-B. 470, 1, footnote 1.

huc accedit , add to this. Notice the difference of order and consequently of emphasis between

huc accedit ( add to this) here, and

accedit illa ( there is in addition) in sect. 4 , above.

quamvis felix sit , however fortunate he may be: § 527 , a (313, a) ; B. 309, 1 ; G. 606; H. 586,11(515, iii); H.-B. 532, 2. Sulla was so impressed with his own good fortune, that he assumed the agnomen Felix, which implied, according to ancient notions, the peculiar favor of the gods (See Manil., sect. 47 .)

familia , household of slaves and dependents (see under sect 35).

qui habeat as to have § 535 a (320 a) B. 283, 2; G 631 2; H 589 ii (500 i) H.-B. 521, 1.

libertum : a freedman still remained attached to his former master (now his patronus) often lived in his family did various services for him, and stood towards him in relation somewhat like that of a son under the patria potestas. Towards others he was a libertinus fully free but with some political disqualifications ; towards his former master he was a libertus.

M. Tullius Cicero Pro S. Roscio Amerino 33

ed. Albert Curtis Clark

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